


Over The Hills And Far Away

by knifelesbian



Series: Around The World And Back Again [2]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alex is very stressed and could use a break, Chase is really really really really really in love with Gert, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Gert and Chase are In Love, Gert is really hot in this one can you tell i've got the hots for ariela barer, and because theyre not there narratively, because i dont want to go to hell for writing the straight person nasty, everyone thinks Gert and Chase are sleeping together but they aren't actually, karolina and nico are really damn oblivious about how good they'd be together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 11:25:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13212735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifelesbian/pseuds/knifelesbian
Summary: how the rest of the group finds out and how Molly realizes her sister and her boyfriend are more serious than she thought.





	Over The Hills And Far Away

1\. The One Where Alex Finds Out

Chase, in general, always wants to be around Gert. If given the choice, he would pick his girlfriend (because she's his girlfriend now! He can say that!) over saving the world, no contest.

They're in her room right now, or what can loosely be called her room; the Hostel's accommodations, though useful, are sparse. They're just lucky there was six rooms here with bedframes. Old Lace is at the side of the bed, chewing on a rubber bone that Gert bought for her.

The two of them are lying on her bed, and soft music is playing from the record player. The record player was such a score that when Gert found it in the thrift shop they went to a few days ago, they bought candy bars to celebrate.

"Why did you even bring records when we left if you didn't have anything to play them on?" he asks, softly, because it's pretty peaceful right now, and he doesn't want to ruin it by being loud.

"I dunno," Gert says, shifting and leaning her head against his shoulder. "Why does anyone do anything?"

"Ah, so it's one of those days," Chase says, amused. Gert has always been very existential, sometimes.

"I don't have 'days', I am constantly, always like this. This is how I think all the time, but it just translates into nihilistic sarcasm." She says all this with her face pressed into his chest, because she's moved even closer in the past ten seconds. She's probably going to fall asleep soon.

"Big words from someone in Bugs Bunny pajamas."

"Shut up, they were on sale."

"They were a dollar off, you didn't have to buy-"

She reaches up and puts both hands on his face and squishes his lips together.

"I don't have to take this from someone with a fish face," She says, giggling.

"Stop it," he says, but it comes out as _Shtop ut _,__ which makes Gert laugh harder.

 

"Okay, okay, okay," she takes her hands off his face and curls up even tighter against him. He's pretty sure Gert slept exclusively in a ball for the first 16 years of her life. "Good night, baby."  
"Good night, honey."

They only started using the pet names because of a dumb competition on who could be more cheesy, but Chase is secretly so glad they kept doing it. Being called 'baby', and 'honey', and 'sweetheart' makes him feel so warm inside.

They fall asleep soon after, tucked under the blankets with Gert wrapped around him like a very adorable octopus.

__________

Alex wants it on the record that he didn't ask for this. _He did not ask for this._ It is unfair, actually, that he has to be subjected to this at nine o'clock in the morning.

All he had wanted to do is ask Gert if she had seen his Pacman t-shirt. They all had a tendency of borrowing clothes from one another, but Gert did it constantly, and he really likes that t-shirt.

But instead of the next ten minutes consisting of him getting his favourite shirt back, he walks in, and he gets fucking scarred for life. Gert and Chase are wrapped up together in bed, Gert barely out of the covers. He doesn't know how he completely missed the fact that they were dating, let alone doing..........other things. He's known these kids since birth and suddenly they're doing _that?_ It's a tiny bit gross, if he's being honest.

And, okay. There had been some Signs lately that maybe Alex should have been paying attention to. But he's busy! Everyone sees him as the leader! His girlfriend broke up with him! He's been kind of stressed since they got to the Hostel four weeks ago, so sue him for being surprised.

He's so surprised, in fact, that he drops the ImpBook, the heavy notebook dropping to the floor like a brick and waking the two of them up.

"I am so sorry, I didn't even know you were- oh my god, I should leave you alone, sorry!" He blurts, picking up the ImpBook and getting the fuck out of there because he cannot deal with this right now.

__________

"What was that?" Gert asks. She's got an awful case of bed-head, and she's rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she sits up, pulling away from him just the tiniest bit. Chase mourns the loss.

"Alex being weird. Want me to go get you some coffee?"

She leans in and kisses his cheek. "Yes please."

He loves her _so much_. He hasn't told her yet, because its been just past a month and he doesn't want to freak her out, but its true.

He makes his way to the common room, making sure not to trip over Old Lace, to start a pot of coffee. Well actually, first he goes and brushes his teeth so he's not walking around with stank breath. _Then_ he heads to the common room.

Alex is in there when Chase walks in. He's flipping through the ImpBook, clearly not actually looking at the pages. Chase starts on the coffee, already getting out the six sugar packets Gert takes in her coffee because his girlfriend (!!!!!) is nuts. He's halfway through a 'hey, do you want any?' when Alex interrupts him.

"So, uh, how long have you guys been, uh....."

"We've been together for about a month and a half, Wilder. Did you seriously not notice?"

"No, not at all. Am I just clueless, or are you guys doing the secrecy thing?"

Chase pours coffee into Gert's dinosaur mug and starts stirring in the crazy amount of sugar.

"I don't think we are. We haven't outright told anyone, but that's because we thought it was obvious? But if it isn't......" Hm. Well, if they have to go around telling people, he's glad that, completely by accident, they only have two people to tell.

He treks back to Gert's room with only one mug in hand, because he hates coffee and they're out of tea right now.

As soon as he walks through the door, she makes grabby hands at him until he slides into bed and hands Gert her mug. She takes a long sip.

"Thanks, honey."

He wraps an arm around her, lazily pulling her closer. "No problem, sweetheart. Hey, did you know that apparently Karolina and Nico don't know we're together?"

"Yeah, I'm _aware._ " She finishes the last of her coffee and puts the empty mug on the nightstand, then leans back into him. "Last week they were teasing me for not quote unquote 'tapping that' yet. Which, to be fair, is the most hypocritical bullshit I've ever heard, considering the way they dance around each other. We're we ever that bad?"

"Probably."

"Ugh, glad we got our shit together then. Do we plan to tell them, or are we letting them find out naturally in what is sure to be a hilarious fashion?" God, does Chase love being a we.

"Either way is good to me, but I can tell which one you want to do, so lets go with the second option."

She kisses him, without reason, without prompting. It's sweet, and slow, and short. But it's the kind of kiss that promises more to come over days, months, years. Before Gert, he'd never been kissed like this. If you asked to do word association for the word 'kiss', he would say _party, alcohol, empty._ And maybe it's corny, but before Gert, Chase has never had a real kiss. Not even with Karolina, because she had definitely not enjoyed it, which kind of ruins any kiss.

Well, actually, he has had a real kiss before dating Gert. But that kiss- his very first one, the one that's supposed to be awkward and weird but wasn't- was also with Gert, somehow.

They were fourteen- well, Gert was, Chase was still thirteen thanks to his dumb late December birthday, and they were at a party. It was one of those generic, 'invite everyone in your class' parties at Jake Abbott's house, and they were hanging out in the basement playing monopoly or ping pong or whatever. And the party was fine, if a bit boring, until Eiffel lobbied for everyone to play spin the bottle.

They all sat in a circle, and the first few rounds were fine, until it was Gert's turn. And Chase remembers the bad feeling in his stomach as the bottle span, not knowing why he felt so sick. He knows now that it was pure, lime green jealousy.

So the bottle span and span, and Chase felt worse and worse, until the bottle stopped.......on him. Gert looked nonplussed as she crossed the circle, in huge contrast to the way Chase remembers his mind racing, his cheeks getting hot. She sat cross-legged in front of him, and with a mumbled, 'this is okay, right?' she leaned in.

He remembers it in detail, mostly because for months afterward he would go over it again and again, often not getting enough sleep because of it. Gert's fingers had twisted into his shirt as she pulled him in, and he remembers thinking that she smelled citrusy, like orange juice on a Sunday morning. She'd been confident where Chase had been so, so nervous, like she'd kissed someone before and it didn't freak her out anymore. It had freaked Chase out, mostly because of how much he liked it- this was another thing that kept him up at night for months, the idea of liking Gert. But, of course, back then he was too much of a coward to actually ask her out, so.

Gert had pulled away, wiped her mouth, and went back to her spot, looking for all the world unaffected. Her cheeks were a little pink, sure, but it was nothing compared to the mess Chase had been sure he looked. Chase remembers wishing he'd ran his fingers through her long hair while he had the chance, thinking _this will never happen again and I am screwed._

Chase has never been more glad to be wrong.

__________

2\. The One Where Karolina Finds Out

Karolina, Gert, Molly, Nico, and Old Lace (who is pretty much asleep) are having a quote unquote Girls Night. Which, to be honest, isn't much. All they're really doing is watching Ten Things I Hate About You and painting each others nails. But the boys aren't allowed in the TV room the entire night unless there's an emergency, so it's a Girls Night.

Gert, it seems, has seen this movie more times than could be counted on both hands and feet, from the way she's mouthing along to every line.

"Hey, Gert," Molly says, pulling her out of the trance as she holds up two nail polish bottles, "powder blue or baby pink?"

"Is there any other colours? I'm not in a very pastel mood."

"Not unless you want to go emo with Nico's jet black." Molly says, holding up the bottle.

"Excuse you, it's not emo, it's goth revival! Get it right." Nico says, stealing it back.

"Nico," Karolina says, knowing the fond tone she's taking on is probably not appropriate for a girl she's not even dating yet, "The colour is called 'the void.' Does that not strike you as the littlest bit emo?" Nico sticks her tongue out at her. It's really, really cute.

"Ugh, fine," Gert says, holding out her hand, "pink please."

Gert gets absorbed back into the movie as Molly paints her nails for her.

"So, Gert," Karolina starts, mentally rubbing her hands together to prepare for teasing.

"Yeah?"

"When are you going to ask out your very own Heath Ledger, huh?"

"First of all," Gert starts, turning away from the screen, "Don't compare Chase to Heath Ledger, he's hot as hell but he doesn't win against _Heath Ledger_ , I mean, come on, and second of all- fuck this is my favourite part everyone shut up."

On screen, Julia Stiles is standing in front of the class, reading her poem.

" _I hate the way you talk to me_  
_And the way you cut your hair_  
_I hate the way you drive my car_  
_I hate it when you stare_

_I hate your big dumb combat boots_  
_And the way you read my mind_  
_I hate you so much that it makes me sick_  
_It even makes me rhyme_

_I hate the way you're always right_  
_I hate it when you lie_  
_I hate it when you make me laugh_  
_Even worse when you make me cry_

_I hate the way you're not around_  
_And the fact that you didn't call_  
_But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you_  
_Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all."_

A single tear streams down Gert's face, and Molly says, "You do this every time we watch this, and I still don't get it. It's just a movie."

"Yeah, but they're _in love,_ Molly. And wasn't it great seeing Bianca punch out Joey?" Molly nods, and they watch as the movie ends to Letters To Cleo's _I Want You To Want Me._

Gert, Karolina has noticed, is a bit of a closet romantic. Karolina really can't wait for Chase to get his shit together and ask her out, they're gonna be so good together.

After Nico turns off the projector, but instead of letting the silence stew, she starts humming the first few lines to The Barenaked ladies _One Week_ , which has been stuck in Karolina's head since the start of the movie.

Gert and Molly join in and start to sing the first part of the song, then the three of them turn to Karolina in surprise as she starts up an almost perfect rendition of the rap. She can't sing for shit, so she's been practicing different rap songs in her spare time since they got here. She almost has Alphabet Aerobics down.

The four of them get up and do silly dances as she raps, then it switches to the song part and they all sing it pretty badly other than Gert. She's always been a fantastic singer.

She starts the second rap part, and even though this song mostly doesn't make sense in the slightest, it is so, so fun. They finish the last verse and practically fall to the ground laughing.

"Okay, okay," Gert says, holding back giggles. "I'm going to go see if there's any snacks around, be right back."

____________  
~~~~~  
She really did just want to get snacks, seeing Chase is just an added bonus.

Gert had been looking for chips when Chase had scared her half to death as he wrapped both arms around her from behind. If she hadn't pushed down her gut reaction, Gert would have totally elbowed him, hard, in the stomach. As it happens, she just lets out a gasp.

"Oh, did I scare you?" he says, totally already knowing the answer. "Sorry."

"Uh-huh, sure."

He hooks his chin over shoulder, asking, "So how's Girl's Night?"

"Oh, so fun. We watched Ten Things I Hate About You and now I'm getting snacks." she places her hand over his, fiddling with his fingers.

"Ah, the crying movie. Love that one."

"Oh, shut it, I once saw you cry while watching Airbud. _Airbud_ , babe."

"I was thirteen, leave me alone."

"Hmm, leave you alone, huh?" she turns to face him, and puts on her best smirk. "You sure?"

~~~~~

_Fuck._

Chase leans in, threads his fingers through her hair as he kisses her. It's a bit more passionate than usual, but that's just like comparing a campfire to a forest fire- it's the same flames every time. Gert's fingers scrabble against his shirt, and she keens, just a little. And that's when Chase loses any and all trains of thought. She moves a hand up to his neck, moving her thumb against his rapid fire pulse.

And then Karolina walks in.

"Hey, Gert, what's taking so- Ohhh. Oh. Oh my God. When did this happen?!"

She wipes her mouth, her lips still red. "Um, a month and a half ago, about." she lets out a small gasp, like she's still catching her breath. Chase cannot take his eyes off her.

Gert grabs the bag of chips, pecks him on the lips, and with a "Bye, Chase," she's gone.

~~~~~

"So can I tell Nico about that, or?" Karolina says, fidgeting as they walk back to the TV room.

"Hmm," Gert starts, "well, she is the only one who doesn't know-"

"Wait, how did Alex know before I did? What even?"

"The only reason Alex knew before you did is because he has no sense of personal space and barged into my room at nine am." Gert says, smiling at the memory.

"Wait, so are guys.....like......uh....." She looks so uncomfortable, and Gert is confused until it dawns on her.

"NO! No, nonononono, we are definitely not- no. And we have no plans to! None. At least in the near future, anyway. We just sleep in the same bed sometimes. Every night. Uh." her face is like, doing something right now. _subject change, subject change, subject change._

"Okayy, so can I tell her, or......?"

 "I have a deal for you." they stop in the hallway, and Gert puts both hands on Karolina's shoulders.

"If you ask Nico out, you can tell her. Right the fuck away, I don't care. But you have to ask her out first. Okay?"

Karolina nods, dazed. She clearly didn't expect a (well meaning, come on, they would be so good together) ultimatum.

"Cool."

3\. The One Where Nico Already Knew

It's raining.

Usually, this would make Chase kind of emotional in a good way, because every time it rains since he and Gert got together, he gets sappy and reminiscent and romantic. But right now its raining.

And they're _outside._

Nico, Gert, and himself have just gotten out of the car to walk to the grocery in the pouring rain when he realizes.

"Oh my God, you don't have a raincoat." How does she not have a raincoat? He's already taking off his jacket, which doesn't have a hood but will have to do as he hands it to Gert. She puts it on and rubs her arms.

"Thank you," she says, "but I'm going to be mad at you if you get sick."

"I know."

"Guys, come on, it's so fucking freezing!" Nico says as she speeds up to a trot. They've parked a little ways away from the grocery store for safety's sake, but it's so far and the rain is coming down so hard that they're all halfway between walking and running, and the only reason the three of them aren't flat out sprinting is because they don't want to trip.

They get under the awning, and the girls squeeze out their hair as Chase twists water out of his sweater. They walk in and search the aisles for the items on their, frankly, huge list. Alex really doesn't forget anything.

They have to split up after a while so they're not at fucking Loblaws for three hours. Gert and Chase must be faster than Nico though, because they meet under the awning at the agreed spot with their bags and she's not there yet.

The bags sit at their feet as they wait, Chase's arm over Gert' shoulder with her leaning into him. Chase is freezing, but having her with him is warming him up just fine.

"Baby," he says, kissing the top of her head, "it's raining."

"Is it?" she jokes. He loves her so much its insane.

"You know what else happened when it was raining?"

"Hmm, I don't know," her tone is amused as she looks up at it him. "Was it, perhaps, this?" She kisses him slow and sweet, and he thinks of a rainy day like this one not too long ago, the day that went so, so well for him.

__________

So Gert and Chase are making out in front of the Loblaws. To be honest, Nico wishes she was more surprised. She's not sure of, like, the exact date they got together, but she knows it was in the past two months or so, because they're still sort of in that lovey-dovey phase. Although, Nico is pretty sure they might never grow out of it. The way she sees Chase look at Gert sometimes, like she's the most amazing thing he's ever seen, is enough to make even Nico jealous of their relationship. Fuck, she wishes she had the balls to ask Karolina out already.

She clears her throat, and they pull apart.

"Uh, hey, so-" Chase starts, attempting to clear self created awkwardness.

"Guys, I already knew, don't worry about it,'' she says, smiling, "I'm happy for you."

Gert smiles back and thanks her. They break into a run because its pouring even harder, and Gert gets in the drivers seat as Chase calls shot gun before Nico can.

"How long did you know?" Gert asks, eyes still on the road.

"Since we went to that party, you know, the one where you wore that satin black dress?"

"Yeah, and?"

"You blew him a kiss and he tripped on thin air. So yeah, that's when I knew." She smiles at the memory. At the time, that had been one of the funniest things she'd ever seen.

__________�~~~~~

Oh, does Chase remember that party. They'd gotten there at different times, because Gert had to run an errand. It was about a two weeks after they started dating, and Chase was still thinking every few minutes _is this real is this real is this real._ sometimes he still thinks that, to be honest.

She'd walked in wearing a satin dress looking like a purple haired Marilyn Monroe, like a wind could blow and she'd be recreating the iconic picture of the blonde bombshell, just in black.

Damn, does his girlfriend look good in black.

She'd caught his eye, saw him walking towards her, and blew him a kiss with her glossy red lips.

And yes, he did trip over his own feet.

"You look.....so good." He'd said when he reached her, hands on her waist and leaning towards her.

"I know."

They'd danced together the whole night, and when they got into the Lyft home, her lipstick had spread all across his mouth. That night had definitely been one for the books.

Now, Chase reaches over and tugs a wet piece of her hair. "Your hair looks nice like this." He says, then sniffles because he can feel his nose getting stuffed already.

"Thanks, babe, but if you get sick because you gave me your jacket I will kick your ass, okay?"

4\. The One Where Molly Realizes Gert And Chase Are A Bit More Serious Than She Thought

He gets sick.

Waking up the next day to a pounding headache and barely being able to breath through his nose is verifiably awful. And waking up alone is even worse. He's not sure where Gert went. They'd fallen asleep together last night, but he wakes up in her bed by himself, so she must have gotten up at some point.

He shuffles his way to the common room, having to stop a few times so he doesn't like, keel over, but he gets there. He stops in the doorway and sees everyone eating Chef Boyardee while Gert makes what smells like chicken noodle soup at the stove.

"How long have I been out?" he says, his words slurring a little bit.

"It's one in the afternoon, honey." Gert turns towards him, "I told you you'd get sick," she says fondly.

"You did, but rather me than you, so whatever." He yawns, and Gert tells him to go back to bed.

"I'll bring you your soup and some medicine in a minute, okay?"

He nods and heads back to his room.

__________

_Honey?_

Molly hadn't realized Gert and Chase were the pet names type. She hadn't realized they were the serious type either. And maybe she's been a bit naïve about them since they got together. The other kids would say that she's just naïve in general, or just think it, and she hates when they do that.

She remembers going home that day, _the_ day, Gert practically jittering in the drivers seat.

"So," Molly had started, "Chase is your boyfriend now, right?

"Yes? I mean, I think so? We're.....letting it develop."

And then they didn't really, actually talk about it. Gert would gush, _Chase is so hot, he's so kind, I think I really care about him, Molly._ That last one had really thrown her for a loop at the time, and even now it seems so out of the blue to her. Maybe it's just because she hasn't really felt that way about anyone yet, and while she likes it that way, it's hard to analyze a situation that she has no personal experience with. Woah, she really needs stop listening to everything Gert says, even Molly's thoughts sound like her.

Gert comes back after a while, saying that Chase is asleep again, and promptly face planting onto the couch.

"I really did tell him he'd get sick!" She whines to Karolina, who's running her fingers through Gert's hair.

"I know."

"He really didn't have to give me his jacket! I would have been fine!"

"I know."

"Oh, yeah, you're out of the deal now, Nico knows."

"I kn- wait, what?"

"Yeah, apparently she knew the whole time."

"Not apparently," Nico says, looking up from her book, "I _did_ know the whole time. You two were never subtle. What deal?"

"Oh," Gert has that look in her eyes that means she thinks she's made a terrible mistake as she gets up, grabbing Molly by the arm, "okay, we're going to go check on Chase," she pulls Molly towards the door.

"But you just saw him, he's fine-"

"We're leaving!"

They get out of there quickly and head to Chase's room, but when they go in, he's not there. Gert flops down on the bed and grabs a pillow, squeezing it in worry, though Molly can't tell what about.

"Um, Gert? Where's Chase? This is his room, isn't it?"

"Oh. Uh, yes. He's...........somewhere else." She looks shiftily to one side.

"Where?" Molly asks, looking around. There's not much of a personality to Chase's room, or any of their rooms, for that matter. Running away from murderous parents doesn't usually entail bringing décor. His top blanket is a soft blue, worn around the edges. There's a half empty bottle of water on the floor next to the bed. But there, in a picture frame on his nightstand, is a photo booth strip of pictures of him and Gert. The first picture is the two of them making silly faces at the camera. In the second one, Chase is kissing Gert's cheek, in the third photo, they look like they just pulled back from a kiss, foreheads touching and sickeningly sweet smiles just visible. In the fourth photo they're looking back at the camera again, with big grins and pink cheeks.

Gert has the same photo strip folded oh so carefully in her wallet, right next to her picture of Molly. Molly is pretty sure that there's not even any money in that wallet. It's super old, old enough that Alex had made sure to check it for a tracker before Gert was allowed to take it with her.

"Um, my room? He slept there last night, and I guess he just went back reflexively."

At 'my room', Molly's eyes bug out. "Why are you sleeping in the same room??????????"

"It's just a couples thing, Mols," Gert says, even though she still looks shifty, "Don't worry about it."

"Gert, I know what sex is, seriously, you can-"

"No, Molly, nonononono. We haven't Done That, and no, I would not like to talk about it, noooooo. Shush. Come on," Gert says, clearly done with this line of conversation, "We're going to actually check on Chase, now, I'm worried."

"You saw him a half hour ago."

"I know, but still."

They tiptoe into Gert's room so they don't wake up Chase, but he's already awake.

"Hi, baby." He says to Gert, voice crackling. Molly is pretty sure Chase doesn't even notice she's in the room, which, to be honest, she's kind of miffed about.

"Hi," she's got that tone she used to get with the cat they had when Molly was seven- Mr. Snuffles. Gert pretended the entire time he was around that she hated him, but whenever she talked about him she'd get that exact tone in her voice. They'd both cried for days when he died.

Gert sits on the side of Chase's bed and checks his temperature with a kiss to his forehead. Stacy used to do that too, and Molly wonders if Gert does it because she did.

"I'm going to go get you a cold cloth, okay?" she gets up, looking determined. Molly wonders how she's going to do that when they don't even have a fridge, but Gert has her ways.

"I think I'm going to marry her," Chase says, apropos of nothing as he watches the door even after she's left, and even though Molly isn't sure he's talking to her, specifically, maybe he just makes grand statements when he's alone and nobody knows, she responds.

"As long as I'm the Maid Of Honour."

"Sure, Mols."

She thinks she's starting to understand this whole love thing, now.

**Author's Note:**

> Chase: sixteen nos? really?
> 
> title is from Rita Ora's 'Anywhere'


End file.
